Nathalie Lahnsteiger
Nathalie Margarethe Lahnsteiger (b. October 9, 3616) is a Hulstrian & Gao-Soton politician who currently serves as Chairwoman of the LBU and Staatsministerin. Early life Nathalie was born in 3616 as the daughter of Hannes Lahnsteiger (*3692) and his wife Erika (*3692). As her parents were very young at the time of her birth and still undergoing academic education, much of her upbringing was conducted by her grandmother, Emilia Lahnsteiger, who was the first liberal Staatsministerin in modern Hulstria & Gao-Soto from 3606 to 3611. When she became a teenager, she began to discuss politics with her grandmother from time to time and adopted some of her views, although she did not immediately form a cohesive world view. After graduating from school, she spent one year travelling the world and collecting other experiences. In 3635, she returned to Hulstria & Gao-Soto to attend the Akademie für Gesellschaftswissenschaften, obtaining a B.A. in communications. During her time as student, she worked part-time as a co-manager of a night club owned by her then-boyfriend and earned the reputation of an it-girl. However, she also devoted time to political activity as chairperson of the Budenlar branch of the JuLis, the youth organization of the Liberale Volkspartei. Entry into politics; Mayor of Labsburg After graduating in 3639, she was employed as a press secretary for then-Minister-President of Budenlar Hartmut Schellhoff, whom she shared a close personal relationship with, leading some local tabloids to speculate over an affair. In 3640, at the intervention of Schellhoff, the Labsburg chapter of the LVP fielded her as a mayoral candidate for the Crownland's capital. Her inexperience was overlooked due to the glamour of the name Lahnsteiger, as her grandmother remained an inspiration and hero for many Liberals. In the election, she defeated left-winger Erich Hohenwartet 60-40 percent. As Mayor, she staunchly supported the libertarian-populist course of Schellhoff and his LVP faction, which often defied the more moderate course of the national party led by Staatsminister Ludwig Kirchgasser. For example, she slammed the national government for considering tax hikes on luxury goods in its budget, saying that this was "a concession to class-warfarist 'tax the rich' cries. Apparently the left-wing of the LVP wants our party to become a substitute for the defunct Solidarity party." In 3642, she unveiled a plan aimed at constructing a new business and entertainment district in Labsburg surrounding the planned expansion of the international airport in her city, which, according to airport executives and aviation experts, was in need of a third runway due to the rise in traffic that it has encountered as a result of the economic dynamic spurred by the Crownland government's uncomprisingly business-friendly deregulation and tax-cutting agenda. The project was originally scheduled to be completed in 3647, although some of the windy investors she had attracted terminated their contracts with the municipal government when the Imperial Diet banned prostitution throughout the nation. Minister-President of Budenlar The small setback was swiftly overcome when Lahnsteiger became the successor of Schellhoff as Minister-President of Budenlar in 3649, which she remained until 3657, when she switched to national politics and obtained a Diet seat as leader of the Budenlar list, which scored the best result for her party, which had now merged into the LBU. Immediately afterwards, she became parliamentary leader under Staatsminister Werner Luscher as party leader. In that position, she was the main attack dog against the resurgent HDV unter its new left-leaning leader Oli Stolcker. Staatsministerin and LBU Chairwoman After the general election of 3662, in which the LBU retained a plurality but suffered heavy losses, Lahnsteiger succeeded Luscher as Chairwoman and went on to form a coalition government with the right-wing republicans. Although under constant attack from the left-wing opposition for not moderating her neoliberal economic agenda, she did not significantly change any of the positions the LBU had adopted under Luscher, saying that "it is obvious that we must not solely focus on economics to solve the challenges we have been facing in recent years. However, this will not necessarily mean that there will be more government interventions - our voters would never forgive us if we turned toward statism whenever facing a crisis. Soon after she became Staatsministerin, Lahnsteiger caused a controversy when she said in a speech to students that "greed is good, (...) it's what drives our economy. Without profit on their mind, few people would bring themselves to lift even a finger. So don't let these moralists make you feel guilty about your successes." For this remarks, she was criticized by clerics as well as opposition politicians, but her office downplayed the episode as a "bagatelle hyped primarily by the tabloid press". In 3664, with poverty and crime in the cities still on the rise, her government announced a small concession to the calls for more state action to combat these problems through a rise in the social welfare budget, with the additional funds being granted to community initiatives in urban areas aiming to "revitalize" these places with their projects. Opposition Leader Oli Stolcker, however, criticized the policy as "too little, too late, and I suspect too half-hearted." He went on to stigmatize the government's cause as steered by "libertarian economic calculus", which became a popular catchphrase to denounce Lahnsteiger's agenda. The Staatsministerin reacted with derision, quipping that "Herr Stolcker rambles so much about the evils of calculation that I am inclined to assume that math wasn't his strongest subject at school. Admittedly, I wasn't great at math either, but at least I don't try to build a policy around my lack of skill in dealing with numbers." Category:Hulstrian and Gao-Soton people